Italeri 1/72 X-32 Joint Strike Fighter

I'm pretty sure I will not finish this model, it's shape is way too far off. However, I still like the real thing, and I may convert the model to a more correct shape.


The reason for buying this model is somewhat special: I wanted to know how Boeing had managed to create such an incredibly ugly aircraft. The few photos published by Boeing at that time didn't give me a complete picture of the aircraft. I thought that buying the model would be of some help, so I bought it right after it was released in Europe. I decided beforehand to build it straight out of the box (SOOB), since my interest was largely about the looks, not the details. Quite soon after the model's release it became clear that it has grave errors, that will take a lot of modifications to make it more or less correct. This is not to criticize Italeri, because the moulds were cut before the real aircraft was rolled out. If you want to see some brave modelling, check out Meindert de Vreeze's X-32 report. My focus was to build it clean and simple, as discussed below. Plans for a second, corrected model are discussed at the end.

Construction









First task was building the very exposed air inlet. Due to its complex duct shape it was moulded in two parts. Eliminating the seam inside the inlet was difficult, but not impossible. I used self-clamping tweezers to hold a strip of sandpaper, to smoothen the Milliput spread over the joint. This method worked nicely.











After this joint looked good enough, I tried to fit it in the lower fuselage. This didn't work out. Either the inlet sat to high, or the lip in the lower fuselage was wrong, I still don't know. I fiddled, cut and sanded a lot until it seemed to fit properly. Still, the upper fuselage wouldn't fit properly with the inlet installed. The upper and lower radome parts stood a bit open like a bird's beak.







Nevertheless I glued the inlet in the lower fuselage, and added a lot of Milliput inside the inlet lip, to achieve a smooth transition. This turned out quite nicely. I later airbrushed the duct and it was seamless.











Next job was the bomb bay. I decided to build it closed, since I was not interested in the bomb bay details. I started building it from the rear, working to the front. The parts are slightly too short, because I had a gap at the front that needed filling with Milliput. I also used Milliput to partly fill the panel lines, so they would look similar to the other panel lines.







The bomb bay doors are quite flexible, and therefore I decided to reinforce the area with more Milliput on the inside.















After installing the cockpit tub, the upper and lower fuselage parts could be assembled. This was no easy job, since they fitted rather badly. The lower fuselage was narrower than the upper fuselage, possibly due to warping, since other modellers didn't report problems. I had to glue the front fuselage centimeter by centimeter with CA glue, and lots of bending, pulling and pushing was involved to achieve a good fit. The lower wing insert created some deep panel lines, that were filled with more Milliput. A lot of Milliput was needed to fill the gap between the insert and the control surfaces, since the upper and lower wing parts didn't even touch there. Lastly I also put some Milliput in the gaps between the control surfaces, because I found them too deep.







The upper side of the wing control surfaces showed shallow dents due to shrinkage. I used Milliput to fill them, and used it also to fill in the too-deep gaps between the control surfaces.



Even more shrinkage was found on the tail surfaces. More Milliput, and more sanding!

In the mean time I've researched the technical backgrounds of both the X-32 and X-35 aircraft. It made me understand the reasons for the X-32's ugliness, and it made me appreciate the novel and innovative engineering of Boeing. The X-32's configuration was a unique solution to the JSF requirements, and in many ways much smarter than the Lockheed-Martin configuration. I take my hat off to the Boeing designers!

My increased respect for this ugly aircraft has made me think about building a second, corrected model. I've done lots of measurements from photos, and I have drawn up a half-decent plan view of the aircraft by now. I've also made an accurate plan view of the Italeri model (an interesting project in itself), and a comparison shows that the Italeri model is indeed way off the mark. Yet a correction of the model (read rebuilding) does appear to be feasible. If and when I will start this ambitious project (what's AMS?), you will read about it on this site.


Die-cast alternative

Chinese manufacturer Yat Ming produces a 'Flying Warbird / Air Signature' series, and issued a X-32 diecast in 1/72 scale with catalog number 99138. It is not (or no longer) listed on their site, probably because it is out of production. It is offered by the regular die cast suppliers and sometimes on Ebay.


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